Tuesday, 16 June 2009

This is the latest article in the series how to write the perfect sermon. In the first article I outlined 3 tips on making your delivery perfect.

• Know your audience.• Find the passage from the Bible.• Keep it short.

This article will help you give a stunning sermon that will enthuse your audience and have them coming back for more. It will inspire your congregation and motivate you.

The first thing to consider is doing a quick outline of what intend to say. Writing short bullet points on your topic will give your delivery direction. This will crystallize your thoughts whilst you develop the total theme of the sermon in your head. That way your delivery will be structured and organized.

Secondly when you have the basic outline, speak it out to yourself. The written word sounds different when you read it silently. Speaking it out to yourself will help you judge how it will sound to the congregation. It will highlight phrases and words that will need changing. This way you will have a sermon that flows. We can be very precious about our work. If you have the means to speak it to someone else, that will help. That person will be able to point out where they think it works or not. This will also help focus your mind on the delivery.

Once you are happy with the written sermon take time out to memorize as much of it as you can. It will greatly enhance your delivery and your presence. Imagine how your congregation will feel seeing you with your face in your notes. Speaking to the pulpit and not to your audience. They will soon turn off. Speak to them, make eye contact; look at them and they will look back at you. They will feel that you are speaking to them personally, which essentially you are. Make them feel part of the sermon. Show them that you care about them. It will keep the congregation focused on you and the message.

There it is, 3 further techniques for you to use for your perfect sermon. These steps coupled with the 3 from the previous article will greatly enhance your delivery.

• A brief outline.• Loud reading to yourself and/or someone close.• Memorizing as much as you can will greatly improve your effectiveness.

Speaking directly to the congregation will involve them in the message. Putting these tips together with the other tips outlined in the first article will have you giving great, no perfect, sermons every time.

Friday, 12 June 2009

The title suggests that there is such a thing as a perfect sermon. I believe that perfection is like beauty, that is, in the eyes of the beholder. You may think that a sermon was perfect but half your congregation were falling asleep. On the other hand you might consider that the sermon you gave was not that good and yet members of your congregation came up and thanked you. So perfection is what we obviously strive for. We will be looking at how you can write a sermon that inspires your congregation. I will outline 3 steps when planning your sermon that will keep your congregation interested.

Know your audience

This seems such a simple consideration but you will be surprised by the number of people who forget that. Who are your congregation? Where are they from? What do they have in common? Do you know of anything that divides them? The sermon you deliver to a congregation in a small town church will be different to that of an inner city church. The pressures are different, it is still the Word of God but your audience will differ. Know your audience.

Find that passage from the Bible

Obvious that most sermons use the Bible as the guide? But it should again relate back to your audience. Does it show direction, solve a problem, stimulates thoughts, gives support and guidance. With the personal touch you are part of the congregation sharing their joys being there in times of sadness and hardship. I have heard said that humor can be very useful in a sermon. I’m not saying not to use humor; however caution is advised when it comes to using funny stories. Remember what might be sweet for someone could be sour for someone else. Humor is always a matter of opinion so be careful with it. You don’t want to upset your parishioners. It may be something that happened to you that you find funny, great, but treat humor with respect and don’t overplay it.

Keep it short

This cannot be stressed enough. 15 minutes is long enough. If you an evangelist then you may have to speak for 2 hours and your skill level in public speaking will need to be developed. This is just a sermon at a local church with members of the community coming together to Praise God. A wise minister once said that if you can’t get your point across in 10 minutes then the point, whatever it is, is lost.

There will be other tips to writing the perfect sermon but for now remember these points.• Know your audience• Use a passage from the Bible that will stimulate emotion.• Keep it short

Tuesday, 9 June 2009

In this world of Internet marketing and the great advances in technology and human endeavor it is easy to forget that we are all children of God. The film Amazing Grace by Michael Apted told the story and the struggle of the abolition slavery by William Wilberforce in Georgian England. At one point Wilberforce is struggling to find his true calling, and during a morning sitting on wet grass, he comments to his butler that it is “God”.

“You found God sir?” asks the butler to which Wilberforce replies “I think he found me”. This is how I feel about the site Sermon World. It provides the most comprehensive sermon service available anywhere on the net. Every topic is catered for and if it’s your job or calling to deliver sermons you will never have to spend any more agonizing hours struggling with what to say.

Even if you don’t use the sermons word for word you will find enough content in the newsletter you receive to inspire you to write compelling sermons which in turn will truly inspire your congregation. The number of sermons that you have to choose from is truly amazing. It will take away most of the hard work from you, leaving you to concentrate and tailor the sermon to your particular style.

Coming back to the fact that we are all children of God one of the sample sermons you get talks about the advances in technology. However it goes on to observe that the human brain weighs about 3 pounds. It contains 12 billion cells and each one of these cells is connected to 10,000 other brain cells creating 120 trillion brain connections. To compare the human brain to a computer is like comparing the Atlantic Ocean to the pond in your back yard. There are simply no comparisons to make.Not being left behind by the computer age the sermons can be delivered using Power Point presentations. Making them ideal to use in colleges and schools, where young people are used to using new technology. Sermon World embraces new technology and moves the word of God into the future.

So exactly what do you get for your investment? Sermon World for 12 months subscription you will receive 4 to 5 inspirational sermons per month. All the sermons will be downloaded as Microsoft word files and PowerPoint presentations. The beauty of the format is that you can edit them to suit your particular style. Every month you will be sent a new user name and password to access the sermons on line. I have no doubt that once you start using the inspirational sermons from Sermon World your congregation will be inspired and enthused.

Here are the details for the site, go have a look. If you are looking for a guide to giving consistently inspirational and informative sermons then really THIS IS FOR YOU. The URL is listed below:-